Skilled Migration Visas and First Entry to Australia

Information for clients unable to make their first entry to Australia (Initial Entry Date)

If you have been granted one of the visas listed above and you are unable to make your first entry into Australia by the date specified in your Grant Notification letter, please refer to the attached Facilitation Notice.

We understand there will be circumstances where some visa holders can’t arrive in Australia by the initial entry date. In this case, holders of valid skilled visas can still enter Australia after their initial entry date.

Generally, visa holders are permitted to make the first entry into Australia at any time before the “Must not arrive after” date. You will find the “Must not arrive after” date in the visa Grant Notification letter sent when the visa was granted (see example below).

EXAMPLE:

You do not need to be granted an extension to the initial entry date but you must enter Australia by the “Must not arrive after” date. The Department cannot extend the “Must not arrive after” date specified in your visa Grant Notification letter.

You may wish to carry a copy of the Facilitation Notice when travelling. You may need to show it to your travel provider or the airline when checking in at the airport, and to the border officer on arrival in Australia.

This notice should be sufficient evidence for a travel provider to be satisfied that the visa holder can enter Australia as the holder of a Skilled Migration visa.  If you show this letter to the airline, but still have a problem checking-in for your flight, ask the airline representative to contact the Australian Border Operations Centre (BOC) to resolve the issue.

First Entry

The department will not seek to cancel a Skilled visa where offshore Skilled visa holders who are subject to condition 8504 (must enter before specified date) cannot enter by the specified date. Since the COVID-19 crisis the government has announced changes to policy and concessions for some visas.

Offshore Skilled visas subject to the 8504 condition including:

• Skilled Independent (subclass 189)
• Skilled Nominated (subclass 190)
• Skilled Regional (subclass 489)
• Skilled Work Regional (subclass 491)

requires the visa holder enters before the specified date.

If you were outside Australia when you were granted one of the above Skilled visas then your visa grant is subject to
visa Condition 8504 which provides that:

• The holder must enter Australia as the holder of the visa to which the condition applies before a date specified
  by the Minister.

This condition requires that each visa holder must make their first entry into Australia before the date specified in the
“Grant Notification” letter.

Skilled Migration is aware that in certain circumstances you and/or family members who were granted a visa as part of
your application may not be able to comply with this condition.

Failure to comply with visa conditions can render a visa liable for cancellation under the Migration Act 1958 and visa
holders are strongly encouraged to make their first entry to Australia by the initial entry date provided in your grant
notification, however, generally the department will not seek to cancel a Skilled visa where the only reason for doing so would be
breach of this condition due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions.